Captain
by Consuelo Higdon
Summary: /Aftermath/ He was nothing more than a sniveling, useless, sorry excuse for a sentient being. So why did Thundercracker even care when he died? Well, he wasn't gray yet... /TFA Oneshot Thundercracker Skywarp NOT SLASH/


**This is a bit of a sneak peek/preview/prelude to TyLeeChan's upcoming chapter in her 'Aftermath' oneshot series. Go to her page and read her Aftermath Oneshots to understand this a bit better.

* * *

**

What the pits was he _doing?_

Nothing, that's what, absolutely nothing of forward or worthy value at all. All he was doing was sitting here, at the other side of that blasted asteroid, keeping healthy distance from the now-dead carcass of his unworthy brother of a clone. If he had bothered to die correctly, he would be gray. Heck, if he had bothered to die correctly, he wouldn't have died at all! But _nooo_! He had to go and freeze up right after Thundercracker FINALLY finished scraping those slagged Stasis Cuffs (he would have gotten done much sooner if he wasn't sniveling the whole time and worrying him so much about imagined threats to his life). And then, he lost his spark.

Why did _he_ of all mechs get a spark!? Clearly he, the mighty and glorious Thundercracker (which, by the way, was his ingenious name he chose for himself, what with his powerful sonic cannons) deserved a Spark more than that sniveling little bag of buildup and coolant. Many times Thundercracker had been tempted to open his spark chamber to see if he had a spark or not, but he thought much better of it. After all, if Skywarp's spark was taken, who's to say his wouldn't be just as, if not more susceptible to being flung out of his own chassis? Opening his spark chamber would only make a clearer passage for his spark to shoot out of him.

But that still didn't answer his question. Why was he just sitting here? He wasn't slothful. If anything, he would much rather be doing _something_ other than sit and wait for stellar cycles. Slagging conscience. Wait, conscience? Did he even _have_ a conscience? Well apparently he did, and if he didn't already, then abracadabra he just made one grow out of sitting and doing nothing all by himself and no one helped him, not even that dead carcass over there, because he's dead, and dead 'bots don't do anything.

But was Skywarp _really_ dead? Was he really just… _gone?_ It had hit him like 2 kilounits of bricks, several times actually. Skywarp was dead. He had to be. And yet, he wasn't gray, and he was perfectly healthy otherwise. And there was no such thing as a healthy carcass. They'd have a hole in a vital organ, or be deathly ill, or not even be born correctly. At least, that's what he learned from the pre-ordained memories of Starscream. He had reenacted all of his memories to pass the time, from the nano-klik he was first online through the day he decided to online him and his brother (and sister) clones. He, of which he was proud to say, was the first onlined.

Skywarp, however, was the last onlined. For whatever reason, he had always gotten the worse of anything. Ever. He was the last to be onlined, he gained the worst possible aspect of Starscream's personality, and he had no useful power other than meager teleportation that he couldn't even control correctly. He'd always end up right above something inherently important for whatever reason and fall on (and irreparably damage) it or barely 5 feet away from where he started. Now that he thought about it, he started to feel a little sorry for him…

What was he talking about!? He was Thundercracker! Mighty and strong Thundercracker with a biting wit and a wonderful complexion, powerful sonic cannons to boost his powers, and a brilliant concocting mind that made plans so brilliant every possible event that could even remotely be considered an error were completely and wholly intended by him to happen, therefore leading him closer to his goal of… of…

What _was_ his goal? Did he even need a goal? Of course not! He had no need for a primitive and organic necessity such as a goal! He had nothing better to do anyway! Besides, he should really just stay here and make sure Skywarp was Okay—

What was he thinking!? Of course he needed a goal! He needed something better to do with his time! Pits, he needed something better to do with his _life_. He couldn't just sit here and do absolutely nothing! No, wait. He wasn't doing absolutely nothing; he was waiting for Skywarp to come back online. That was something. He was already doing something, and there was no way to multi-task with a purpose such as this. But that just led him into another question;

Why was he even _doing _this?

There was no reason for Thundercracker, the greatest and most powerful Decepticon ever to scour the stars (never mind that he was a clone) to wait for this poor excuse of a sentient being. He had no reason to stay. No reason to ponder over the fact that he was dead, but still had his chassis color. No reason to even _care_ that he was (possibly) dead. No reason to even call him by name!

So why was it so hard to just stand up and leave?

Ugh, that's it! If he didn't have a reason to wait here for Sky… for this useless groveling slagheap to wake up from his deadly stasis-nap or whatever, then he'd _make_ a reason! Yeah! That was a brilliant plan. He should receive an award for such an intelligent and rather inventive idea! Megatron would be pleased to hear about this, he would no doubt be immediately established as his trusted successor after an inevitable death for the aging leader. He'd be much further qualified for the position than Starscream anyway!

Oh wait, there was no reason to just sit here and dream of the progression of a brilliant plan if he did not act upon it in the first place! So, now all he had to do was realize why he was waiting for Skywarp to wake up from his stasis-nap/death/whatever. Now, let's see… perhaps we could try to link in possible reasons and see if they work? Yes yes, that was a wonderful thought process to work upon! He would do that! Now let's see… where to start…

Love?

No. Not love. Love was a very imprecise and indistinguishable emotion that it was almost impossible to have a solidified and true meaning of the four-letter word. For all he knew, it could mean he wanted to bond with him! And that was definitely the absolute _last_ thing he would ever desire in this world! He doubted he would spark bond with someone he was technically related to if it _was_ the last thing he ever had to do for whatever reason. He was much better than petty incest. He deserved to find a proper sparkmate in the form of an entirely unrelated femme, as was the universal tradition.

But then again, there were _other_ forms of love…

There was the idea of platonic, brotherly love. It was much less intimate than the romantic action of spark bonding, certainly. Practices of brotherly love ranged from one brother helping another member of their family during times of hardship, or simply sharing. Brotherly love was defined as a secret trust between brothers, and acting as though they were one person in the most extreme cases of pure brotherly love. Anything farther slipped into the intimacies of romantic love.

But that didn't fit either. But there was no other type of love that Thundercracker could identify positively with at all. He didn't see Skywarp as a sister at all, not as a twin. He was born first; Skywarp was born last, even though they essentially looked exactly the same (save for color differences that no one but them seemed to notice) and were essentially born on the same day.

So what did that leave him?

There was no further separation as far as he was concerned. There wasn't any sort of magical twin bond thinggimahoosit that he shared with Skywarp. There was only a sense of… something. In the context of a brotherly connection, he was the older brother, and Skywarp was the younger brother, and so he had to take responsibility for him and make sure he didn't get walk himself into a ditch with his panic attacks. But Thundercracker didn't want to be something as simple as an older brother. He wanted to be more than that. He _was_ more than that! He deserved to be like… like…

Like a _Captain!_

Yes, that was it! Thundercracker was a captain to Skywarp. He was the one who gave the orders, and to Skywarp, he _was_ the most fearsome character in the galaxy—no, the _Universe!_ If he wished, he could probably knock some _bravery_ into Skywarp! That would be much better! Not only would Skywarp be a much more forward character and manage to do something with his life, but Thundercracker would have a loyal second-in-command for himself, so that he wouldn't be lonesome at any given moment and always have someone there to amuse him or for him to dictate over. Then he'd have, at the very least, a fulfilling and humorous life.

All he had to do was wait for his little brother to wake up.


End file.
